Former defense attorney: Peppers alibi discredited by girlfriend

Antwan Peppers is serving a "Hard 50" sentence for premeditated first-degree murder in the slaying of Jermaine E. Cunningham, 20, and a consecutive sentence of 22 years and eight months for the attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of Terrell Dontae Hayes-Osby. Peppers is appealing his convictions for ineffective counsel.

Related Links

Antwan Peppers, who was convicted in the 2006 killing of one man and the severe wounding of a second man outside a popular bar near downtown, testified Thursday he didn't have anything to do with the shootings.

Peppers, 41, also testified he was at a south-central Topeka house with a cousin, Dante Peppers, and two women, then later at the Last Call, a club in Lawrence, on the night of the shootings. Dante Peppers testified he was with Antwan Peppers in Topeka and later at the club in Lawrence.

Peppers took the witness stand during an evidentiary hearing to determine whether he received ineffective assistance of counsel during his 2008 trial.

But Wendell Betts, Peppers' lead defense attorney, said a defense investigator's digging didn't corroborate that alibi.

Dawn Diggins, a girlfriend of Antwan Peppers, said he called her on the night of July 15, 2006, the night of the shootings, to ask her to pick him up around S.W. 10th and Washburn, Betts said.

Then Peppers asked her to drive on S.W. 6th past Terry's Bar & Grill, 522 S.W. 6th, to look at something, which was after the shootings that night, Betts said. En route to the bar, Diggins and Peppers passed ambulances driving away from Terry's, Betts said. Diggins and Peppers were breaking up at that time.

If sworn in as a witness, Diggins said she wouldn't lie, Betts testified, and she would have been a credible witness. Diggins' statement was "inconsistent" with the alibi that Dante Peppers had told defense attorneys, Betts said.

Peppers, is serving a “Hard 50” sentence for premeditated first-degree murder in the slaying of Jermaine E. Cunningham, 20, and a consecutive sentence of 22 years and eight months for the attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of Terrell Dontae Hayes-Osby.

Peppers said he didn't tell Betts he was at the Last Chance club on the night of the shootings.

Peppers didn't know whether Betts made contact with his cousin about the alibi.

At the end of the trial, Antwan Peppers said he asked Betts where was Dante Peppers and why he hadn't testified.

Betts said Dante Peppers didn't need to testify, Antwan Peppers said.

During his murder trial from March 3, 2008, to March 14, 2008, Peppers didn't testify.

"My attorneys told me it was not good for me to testify," Peppers said, adding he had wanted to take the stand.

An earlier witness Thursday, Jesse Forbes, 39, testified Antwan Peppers wasn’t at the scene of the killing and wounding of the two men.

Forbes is incarcerated in a private prison in Leavenworth tied to a Hobb’s Act robbery.

Forbes testified he, a girlfriend and a second man had gone to Terry’s Bar when they saw the two soon-to-be victims parking on the west side of the business.

Forbes said he and his party went inside and ordered drinks while the two victims ordered food, then left with it.

Several minutes later, Forbes heard gunshots, went outside and saw the driver slumped over the steering wheel, and the second man wounded in a doorway.

Forbes didn't Topeka police what he saw because he had an outstanding traffic warrant in Wichita. Forbes saw a car at S.W. 5th, where two younger men jumped in, then it accelerated away.

During Thursday’s hearing, an unidentified man sitting among supporters of Peppers walked by a Topeka Capital-Journal reporter and said, “You write that (expletive) for the paper.” The man then walked out of the courtroom and returned several minutes later.

A courtroom authority identified the man as Avery Peppers.

Security was heavy in the courtroom. As Forbes testified, three Shawnee County sheriff’s deputies were in the courtroom, and two county corrections officers were seated near Peppers.

The hearing in the Peppers case is tentatively scheduled to resume Feb. 19.

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules of
civility. Posts and comments do not reflect the views of this site.
Posts and comments are automatically checked for inappropriate
language, but readers might find some comments offensive or
inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the
"Flag as offensive" link below the comment.

A convicted felon states he didn't see Peppers before he went in, then came out a while later after the shooting and didn't see Peppers then, so that means "Peppers wasn't at the scene." What a waste of taxpayer money and everyone's time.